𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗻, cedric diggory

˗ˋ 04

CHAPTER FOUR
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY EXPERIENCE THE CURSES

. . .

The sixth year Gryffindors were almost desperate to get to their Defence Against the Dark Arts class that first Monday afternoon. Why? Because it was with none other than Mad-Eye Moody. 

They had almost run to the desginated classroom after the bell had rung, and now Fred, George and Lee were pushing to get through the door first. They wanted to get the best seats, naturally, and being late meant letting the Hufflepuffs, who they shared classes with, get those seats.

The larger group of Hufflepuffs had arrived shortly after the twins, Lee, Rosie, Angelina and Alicia, the three girls watching the boys push with certain looks on their faces. 

"Fancy seeing you here." The now familiar voice of Cedric Diggory appeared beside Rosie, who looked up at him, clutching her book to her chest. 

"Good afternoon, Diggory." Rosie used one hand to brush hair away from her face, glancing up at the boy. But before she could say anything else, the twins fell away from the push, having heard Cedric's name and turned around to see what was happening. "Finally." Rosie said, and pushed passed the two twins, leaving both of them and Cedric staring after her. 

Rosie put her bags down in a seat on the row second from the front, letting the twins and Lee fight over it, both of the twins eventually winning and Lee taking a seat besides them.

Leaning on the table, Rosie talked with Angelina and Alicia for a moment, who had decided to sit down on the table next to Rosie. The girl was most likely going to sit with Lee eventually, either of them moving. 

"This seat free?" Cedric asked, appearing by the seat near the row, and Rosie looked over slightly shocked. She nodded, and Cedric sat down, the girl glancing at Angelina and Alicia next to her, before sitting down next to him. 

"I heard you were going to put your name forward." Cedric said, and Rosie looked at him for a moment, before shrugging.

"I'm thinking about it. I probably will. I turn seventeen on Friday." She replied, placing her books and quill on table, using one of them to hold down the corner of her parchment. 

"Two days after mine." Cedric mused. "I think you would be good in it. You've certainly got guts for it."

"And you don't? Honestly, I think-" Rosie began, but was cut off by a bang, and Moody appeared through the door, walking down the aisle and standing by the front desk.

"Books away." He grumbled, "You won't need them." He continued, and slightly surprised, the class followed his instructions, Fred and George looking absolutely elated.

The professor went through the register, his real eye focusing on the list, but his fake one swivelling to each person who announced themselves as present, and Rosie shuddered as the blue eye focused on her, before spinning horribly to the next person.

Moody, after finishing the register, explained to the class that Remus Lupin, their previous professor and Rosie's personal favourite, had left him a list of what they had covered. 

And only adding to the confusion and mystery behind their being a different teacher for that subject, Moody straight up told them that he would only be there for the year. 

"Curses." Moody said. "Illegal curses." He didn't give much more of an explanation to it, and the class already began muttering, before the sound of his swivelling eye stopped them. 

"The sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do." Moody continued. "Do any of you know the curses that are heavily punished and restricted?"

A few people around the classes raised their hand, and the fake eye moved quickly around, before both settled on one of the twins. "George Weasley." He grumbled.

"The Imperius curse." George replied, and most people were too shocked that he could already tell the twins apart, to watch what Moody was doing. 

He had a spider in a glass, and Moody pointed his wand at his, and the spider began dancing around, cartwheeling in circles. A few snickers could be heard, but were quickly silenced by a growl from the teacher. 

"You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" He asked, and the class returned to silence. Besides Cedric, Rosie seemed half-frozen, her stare focused on the spider. 

Another flick of his wand and the spider was still, looking somewhat exhausted. "Another." Moody grumbled, and from somewhere in the class a mumble of 'The Cruciatus Curse'.

"Oh Merlin." Rosie muttered, as the spider doubled in size, and with another point of his wand and a single word muttered, the spider's legs bent into it's body and twitched, rocking from side to side.

A squeak came from the girl, who had covered her mouth, but seemed to not be able to look away from the spider, her face pale. She had known about the curses, but to see it in action was a whole different story.

But what didn't help, was that on the night of the World Cup, the figures in black had been saying it, and cries of pain could be heard. Rosie hadn't known that this is what those people had been subjected to. 

Her cheeks burned pink as the twins looked back at her, and it seemed as if she was being stared at. Moody seemed to have noticed, and the vibrant fake eye was focused on her.

Then, the spider stopped twitching, and Moody once more asked for the final example. Beside Rosie, Cedric said about the killing curse, and after a few moments, Moody could be heard once more. "Avada Kedavra."

 A bright green light flashed and once it faded, the spider was dead. Flat on it's back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. "Rosie, you look a little pale." Cedric commented, looking uneaily between the girl sat next to him and the dead spider. 

She was shaking and taking short breaths, and when the twins looked back, they glanced at each other, and got up, leaving their stuff behind, helping Rosie out of her seat and hurrying out of the room.

Leaving the rest of the class shaken up, staring at the dead spider on the table.

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